College of Arts and Sciences

"It’s refreshing in many ways to write short stories after having tackled a novel, which is such an all consuming beast of an undertaking. Of course, writing a short story is draining, too, for you have to work on drawing large ideas in a much smaller space." 1.   Silk...

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"The ever-present possibility of disaster throughout our history has— I would argue—helped to strengthen the culture. "        David Rutledge 1. Could you talk a little bit about this project? I understand that Where We Know: New Orleans as Home is the second book in a planned trilogy. What did...

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How did you first come to write mysteries? And why mysteries particularly? And why funny mysteries? Actually, I wrote my first mystery story at the age of ten, and during my teens I was very drawn to romantic suspense. Nancy Drew happened early, and Sherlock Holmes, and Agatha Christie...

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"Students enter programs with ideas of their own about what is acceptable and what is not, but they are strongly influenced by what they can observe during their three or six or ten years of graduate study. They graduate with clearer ideas of what is ideal, what is...

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"That led to an invitation . . . to become an associate editor, which mainly consisted of proofreading, but a year later . . . the publisher asked me to become the magazine's editor." 1.   Talk a little about being a medievalist. What was your particular area of interest? Your...

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